According to a Wall Street Journal report, Amazon has been demoing its new smartphone to developers in Seattle and San Francisco in the past few weeks. The mythical Amazon branded smartphone was showcased to these people under tight security in secure hotels, the report adds. We presume the developers probably might have been under an embargo as well from Amazon – preventing them to speak about it to others. However, the cat seems to have somehow slipped out of the bag. Multiple reports from credible news sources point towards the possibility of Amazon readying a brand new smartphone that could be announced this June.
The WSJ report adds that the actual sales of the Amazon smartphone would commence by September 2014. They have also managed to get hold of some specification related details. The Amazon smartphone is rumored to feature a ridiculous sounding four front-facing cameras and a bunch of sensors to track the users gaze. It would also offer a glasses free 3D viewing experience. No further details are currently available.
There have been several reports in the past that talked about the possibility of the Seattle based online retailing giant actually working on a smartphone. It is a different thing that none of those Amazon smartphone related rumors were proved to be true. But, would that be the case this time round as well? While many of the past reports about the Amazon smartphone were vague speculations, the latest reports seem to be more credible and also has a few specific details. For example, the latest reports say that Amazon’s first order for these handsets would be for 600,000 units. The report also says that Amazon has chosen Japan Displays as one of the device’s component manufacturers. Surely, a publication as credible as the WSJ would not be relying purely on hearsay to talk about things regarding Amazon with this much detail?
While this might be music to Amazon fan boys, some industry analysts are of the opinion that Amazon should not veer too far away from its core competency of selling goods online. This in spite of the fact that it has managed to do a decent job with its Kindle Fire tablet which ate away in to the Apple iPad’s market share by a good margin – thanks to great pricing. It has also been seven years since Amazon introduced its highly successful Kindle and Amazon could be eyeing to introduce another revolutionary product that could challenge efforts from some of the well established players in the industry.
Do you think Amazon would do a good job if they do introduce a smartphone of their own?
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